


One Shots

by cherylbarrel



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Toni Topaz, Canon Compliant, Clingy, Domestic, Drabbles, F/F, Fighting, Fluff, Lesbian Cheryl Blossom, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Some of these are really old, Teasing, Tumblr Prompt, canonverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-24 03:23:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17696723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherylbarrel/pseuds/cherylbarrel
Summary: A collection of choni one shots that come from Tumblr prompts, and are originally posted there.





	1. Miss Cherry Cola

**Author's Note:**

> PLEASE READ
> 
> So some of these one shots are really old. The first couple are all the way back from the summer, so if things are dated, that is why. I can't remember, but I may have called Cheryl bi, or gotten other things wrong, so just a heads up!

Cheryl couldn’t resist the smirk that pulled at her lips the minute she saw Toni and Sweet Pea in their Riverdale High uniforms.

Weatherbee forcing those god awful polos and khaki pants on the serpents was beyond wrong, and Cheryl would stand right next to her girlfriend, at the forefront of that war, fighting for all of the southsiders to be treated like equal students. However, in the meantime, she would appreciate what staring at Toni’s ass in those pants did to her.

“Your newly found school spirit is simply adorable you two,” Cheryl teased, as she came towards the pair.

Toni and Sweet Pea paused their conversation at the arrival of the redhead. Sweet Pea with his arms crossed over his chest, and Toni with a cup of coffee gripped in her hand, took a few steps closer to Cheryl.

“This is bad enough without the side comments, Red,” Sweet Pea bumbled. He wasn’t actually annoyed with Cheryl though, the situation itself was getting to him more than anything.

“If I wasn’t so in love with you, I’d be spilling this coffee all over your dress,” Toni playfully threatened, lightly shaking the cup in her hand to make her point.

“It’s a good thing you’re so in love with me then,” Cheryl smiles as she takes a step closer to her girl, and wraps her arms around her waist for a quick kiss.

“Gross, I’m trying to be miserable over here without sickeningly cute displays of affection being shoved in my face,” Sweet Pea rolls his eyes at the couple.

They allow their lips to linger for a few seconds longer, before pulling back from each other, amused smiles plastered on their faces.

Cheryl snakes her arm away from it’s placed wrapped around Toni’s middle, grabs the girl’s coffee cup in the process, and takes a sip.

“Oh sure, you can totally have some,” Toni sarcastically speaks, taking the cup back as soon as Cheryl brings it down from her lips.

“Why do you put so much sugar in your coffee, I feel like I’m drinking liquid candy,” Cheryl complains, as she licks her lips free from the taste.

“This coming from Miss Cherry Cola,” Toni gives her pointed look, and a bright smirk.

“Cherry cola is good,” Cheryl pouts, “your coffee is worse than when Sweet Pea pours half a bottle of maple syrup over his waffles.”

“Why am I being dragged into this?” Sweet Pea pipes up in question.

“Your syrup monstrosity is my reference point for everything horrible. Seriously Sweets, if my hell spawn of a father didn’t ruin maple syrup for me, you certainly did.”

“I put a normal amount of syrup on my waffles, and if no one over here appreciates that, then I’ll just go find some people who do,” Sweet Pea states with finality in his voice.

He starts walking away, but then quickly backtracks, coming to stand directly in front of the girls for a moment longer.

“Hey, later though, can we go get some waffles, all this talk has really put me in the mood for them,” he asks hopefully.

The girls chuckle lightly at his antics, “Sure, Sweets,” Toni replies.

“Hell yes,” he cheers, before walking out of the lounge.

“We should start heading to class,” Toni mentions, but she doesn’t sound all that committed. She takes a few steps closer to Cheryl, until the two are brushing up against one another.

Cheryl hums. “We could, or I could keep kissing you in this uniform.”

“You’re so weird,” Toni shakes her head, “this is the ugliest thing I’ve ever put on my body.”

“I beg to differ,” Cheryl argues, pulling Toni even closer to her by the straps of her backpack.

“Well, maybe you can change my mind,” Toni speaks softly, with their two faces inches away from each other, there was no reason to speak any louder.

“Maybe,” Cheryl whispers, before connecting their lips.

The two get lost in the kiss, as Sweet Pea is not there to interrupt them this time. They’re still standing in the middle of the student lounge, hands tangled in hair, and Cheryl’s lipstick steadily smearing, long after the bell for class rings.


	2. Clingy

Cheryl missed her girlfriend.

Sure, she had just seen Toni last night, and she was already seeing her again at school no more than 12 hours later.

But still, she missed her.

Cheryl wasn’t used to this whole girlfriend thing. The fact that she had someone to call her own, someone to hold hands with, kiss, and just talk about absolutely anything with, whenever she wanted, was kind of overwhelming.

To put it lightly, Cheryl grew a little attached to Toni.

In all the chaos that had been her life, Toni was the one person who truly grounded her, and made her feel love and acceptance always.

Cheryl wanted Toni around as often as possible, and wanted to be touching her as often as possible too.

Whenever Cheryl felt like everything around her was spinning out of control, the simple act of holding Toni’s hand, or leaning into her in a booth at Pop’s, was all she needed to calm down.

Which is why as soon as Cheryl arrived to school, she made a beeline for her girlfriend, and wrapped her arms around her from behind as tightly as she could.

Toni’s smile immediately pulled at her lips when she felt those familiar arms around her body.

“Hi, baby,” Toni greeted softly, turning around so that the two could hug face to face.

“Hi,” Cheryl simply responded, focusing on the feeling of Toni’s hands holding her around her waist, and the scent of the girl’s vanilla shampoo lingering in her hair.

“Get a room,” Sweet Pea teased from beside the pair, him and Fangs watching the couple with playful smiles.

“Fuck off, Pea,” Toni replied while pulling away from her girlfriend, but still keeping an arm wrapped around her while Cheryl moved to rest her head on Toni’s shoulder.

Sweet Pea smirked, “Whatever, Fangs and I have basketball practice anyway.”

“Later, lovebirds,” Fangs spoke over his shoulder as him and Sweet Pea walked away.

“You want to go hang out in the lounge before class?” Toni asked once the couple was alone.

Cheryl nodded, and slid one of her hands down Toni’s arm until she was holding her hand. She then began wordlessly leading Toni in the direction of the lounge.

Once they arrived, they automatically moved to the empty couch in the middle of the room.

Toni sat down first, and while she was expecting Cheryl to sit down next to her, the redheaded girl instead placed herself down directly on Toni’s lap.

Toni chuckled slightly as she felt Cheryl’s arms snake around her neck.

“You ok, hun?” She asked after a beat, feeling slightly concerned at Cheryl’s clingy behaviour this morning.

Toni didn’t mind at all, she just wanted to make sure nothing was seriously wrong.

Cheryl nodded, and buried her face in Toni’s chest.

“I just missed you,” she mumbled, but Toni heard her just fine.

“Baby, I saw you last night,” Toni smiled, bringing one of her hands up to run it through Cheryl’s long, red hair.

“That’s way too long ago,” Cheryl argued with a breathy sigh, closing her eyes as she was feeling increasingly more relaxed as Toni played with her hair.

“Well, I’m here now,” Toni promised, and kissed the top of Cheryl’s head before the couple both fell silent, just enjoying each other’s company.

It wasn’t too long later that Veronica and Archie had also entered the lounge.

Veronica, who had recently been obsessed with how cute Cheryl and Toni’s relationship was, immediately brightened upon seeing the couple cuddled up on the couch. 

“Well, if it isn’t my favourite couple! How is Choni doing this morning?” Veronica cheerfully asked as her and Archie took a seat on the couch facing opposite to the one the two girls were on.

Toni looked at Veronica with an amused expression, while Cheryl just grumbled into her girlfriend’s shirt, annoyed that they’ve been interrupted. 

“We’re great, V,” Toni answered for the both of them.

Veronica scooted forward on the couch, until she was literally on the edge of her seat, looking between a mix of curious and excited as she watched the couple.

“You two are so adorable. I never knew Cheryl Blossom could be clingy, until you came around, Toni,” Veronica spoke, referencing the way Cheryl was currently wrapped around Toni’s whole body like a koala bear.

“I’m not clingy,” Cheryl countered with a huff.

For perhaps the third time that morning, a smile pulled at Toni’s lips, and with one hand stroking Cheryl’s hair, and the other one holding her around her waist, she said, “Of course not, babe.”

Veronica eyed the pair, before looking over her shoulder slightly to share a knowing look with Archie.

She turned back around a moment later.

“Who’s the more clingy one between you two, then?” She wondered, expecting the question to trap Cheryl.

However, her plan didn’t seem to work.

Cheryl, while sitting on Toni’s lap, with her arms around her neck, and her face still buried Toni’s chest, simply responded, “Toni is, obviously.”


	3. Little Red Riding Hood

Cheryl, in all her modern day Red Riding Hood glory, happily skips up to the front entrance of the Whyte Wyrm, with a basket of goodies on her arm. 

Earlier that evening Toni had called her with strings of apologies falling from her mouth. The two had planned to hang out, go to Pop’s, see a movie, whatever. It was date night. Ever since their first nonofficial date, it had become an unspoken weekly tradition between the couple. However, tonight, with all the chaos erupting on the Southside, Toni had to cancel, refusing to abandon her serpent family in this time of need, even if it killed her to be away from Cheryl. 

Despite Toni’s uncertainty about her girlfriend’s reaction to her sudden rain check, Cheryl understood completely. She would never expect Toni to abandon her family like that, and in fact, it was something Cheryl admired about the other girl greatly. 

But of course, that didn’t mean that she was going to go the night without seeing the other girl. 

If Toni couldn’t come to her, she’d just go to Toni. 

Which is the exact mentality that lands her where she is now. All the way in the very heart of the Southside, with homemade muffins acting as a peace offering towards the den of snakes. 

Or well, Serpent members. She’s trying to get better at not using insulting terms when referring to Toni’s friends. It’s taken a little bit of practice, but she’s really starting to get the hang of this whole being nice thing. 

When Cheryl first enters the Wyrm, no one really pays her much attention. It was rough times for the serpents, and they didn’t exactly have it in them to start conflict with every fairytale impersonator that crossed them that evening. 

That, and the fact that Cheryl has started becoming a somewhat familiar face around serpent territory. Toni definitely hasn’t been shy about letting everyone know who her girl is, and that she isn’t to be fucked with in any way. And if it wasn’t for the almost disappointed faces on some of the older member’s at the news, Cheryl might have found it endearing. 

“Hey, Red!” A deep voice calls out to her from the bar. 

Cheryl glances over and spots Sweet Pea’s curious face gesturing her over. She doesn’t see Toni anywhere in sight, and although her and the other boy aren’t exactly friends yet, she’s slowly been growing to enjoy his company, and so she starts making her way to the bar. 

“What are you doing here, Red?” Sweet Pea questions once she’s standing next to him. His voice doesn’t hold any hostility in it, instead he’s seems genuinely interested. 

“I come bearing baked goods for Toni and her chums, which includes you,” she smiles, sliding the basket over the bar towards the boy. 

Sweet Pea’s eyes light up the second the words “baked goods” leave Cheryl’s lips. 

He eagerly digs into the basket. “Hell yes, I’m starving!” 

The serpent boy immediately grabs two, one in each hand, and begins scarfing the desserts down with a wolf like appetite. 

“Whoa, are those muffins?” A new voice excitedly asks, before Fangs is suddenly next to the pair, reaching into the basket himself before either have any chance to respond. 

“Did you make these, Red?” Sweet Pea says between a mouthful of food, which Cheryl only rolls her eyes at. 

“Yup, freshly baked this afternoon, you’re welcome.” 

Fangs wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before pointing a finger at the girl. “You know what, I had my doubts about Tiny dating the Northside princess, but I take it back, you’re good in my books.” 

“Ditto,” Sweet Pea mumbles through another bite. “Just, keep bringing us food, yeah?” 

Cheryl wants to laugh at the boy’s puffy cheeks from stuffing to much food in them. They look nothing like big, scary gang members in this moment. If this was before she was dating Toni, and before she pledged to play nice with the people who might as well be her girlfriend’s brothers, she might have made a comment about their clearly disheveled appearances, but she kept her mouth shut instead, and simply nods at Sweet Pea’s request. 

“Speaking of my abnormally small girlfriend, where is she?” Cheryl inquires, taking another glance around the Wyrm for the other girl. 

“Right here, baby,” The sound of Toni’s voice emerges from behind her, and before Cheryl can turn around, two arms are wrapping around her middle, and pulling her towards her girlfriend’s front. 

Cheryl turns her neck to kiss Toni’s cheek with a bright smile. 

“Hey, TT.” 

“Hi,” Toni whispers, raising her chin slightly to connect her lips with Cheryl’s, capturing the taller girl in a real kiss. 

Sweet Pea groans beside them, “I’m trying to enjoy my free food over here, without unwanted public displays of affection being thrown in my face.” 

The two girls ignore him, deepening the kiss for a moment longer, before finally pulling away. 

When Toni does pull away from her girlfriend, it’s with a dreamy look in her eyes, before she moves her attention to Sweet Pea with an eyebrow raised. “Then go somewhere else, I’m trying to enjoy kissing my girl without your unwanted commentary.” 

“She makes a good point, Pea,” Fangs tells him, biting into another muffin without a care for the couple’s blatant PDA. 

Sweet Pea just huffs defeatedly and shuts his mouth. 

Cheryl takes the opportunity to turn around in Toni’s arms, and raises a hand to brush some of the girl’s pink hair out of her face. 

Toni smiles at her playfully. “I didn’t expect to see you tonight.” 

“Get used to that my dear TT, you know I hate nothing more than being predictable,” Cheryl tells her with a smirk. 

Toni runs a hand down her girlfriend’s arm before reaching Cheryl’s hand and taking it in her own. 

“Oh, I know,” Toni rubs her thumb over the girl’s knuckles, “and I’m definitely not complaining about that, bombshell.” 

Cheryl looks into Toni’s eyes with pure want. She subtly bites her lip in attempt to subside her aching desire to pull Toni away somewhere with a lot more privacy, somewhere they can make out without the prying eyes of the other serpent’s on them. 

For the time being, they don’t have that option. Instead, they rejoin Sweet Pea and Fangs, keeping their hands entwined underneath the bar. 

“You made muffins,” Toni grins. 

“Really good muffins,” Fangs points out. 

“How domestic of you,” Toni teases, and Cheryl sheepishly looks down. 

“You better not mess this up, Tiny,” Sweet Pea suddenly turns serious, “If you break up with this girl we’re going to lose our homemade dessert supply, so don’t fuck it up.” 

Toni snorts, and slaps the boy’s arm with her free hand. 

“Ow!” He exclaims. 

“I’m not going to fuck it up,” she says, turning towards her girlfriend, lifting their joined hands to kiss the back of Cheryl’s softly. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”


	4. I deserve it

“Did you know that my uncle hated the fact that I dated girls?” Toni questions, fists balled up at her sides, tears stinging at the back of her eyes. 

She didn’t want to fight with Cheryl, fuck, this was the last thing she wanted to be doing. But something about that announcement just really set her off. What Cheryl did isn’t okay, regardless of her reasoning or intentions, Toni will never see a valid excuse to out someone. 

She knows what it feels like, and how goddamn damaging it can be. 

Toni still remembers the day she was outed to her uncle. Remembers the way he completely exploded when he found out, remembers the way his fists felt against her skin, remembers how cold the streets were after he started locking her out of the trailer. 

“That’s why the serpents were so important to me,” Toni continues, looking into her girlfriend’s eyes, hoping and begging that she’ll understand, “They were like, my non-judgemental family, and now I don’t have them.”

Some of Toni’s anger begins simmering off into sadness instead. She never liked talking about her uncle, or what he thought of her sexual preferences. Whenever she did, it would bring her back to that place, the darkest time of her life, and it would fill her with these feelings of guilt or shame or regret or _fuck_ , she doesn’t even know what. 

The thought that Cheryl could have just subjected Moose to the same fate, it tore Toni’s heart in half. 

“Toni, I’m sorry,” Cheryl’s crying, the tears running down her cheeks so far gone out of her control. She never meant to make the girl who means the whole world to her upset. She wasn’t thinking, acting on impulse, as always, and not taking a second to think about the people that her actions would hurt. 

“I didn’t realize—” Cheryl starts softly, desperately wanting to understand, desperately wanting to make all of this just go away. 

She’s spent so much of her life only focused on herself, that she has a hard time recognizing what other people need sometimes. This is still new to Cheryl. 

“—Of course you didn’t,” Toni interrupts, feeling some of that anger coming back to her. God, she loves Cheryl, but she can’t contain what she’s feeling, not this time. This time was too far. 

“Because you’re too busy being Cheryl, causing chaos without thinking of the consequences!” 

The words hurt, but Cheryl knows she deserves it. 

Even if it feels like she’s just been stabbed in the heart, she _deserves it_. Ever since her and Toni came back to Riverdale from their summer road trip, Cheryl’s felt like she’s been dreaming. How could she not, with the most incredible girl she could ask for by her side, and the high of their summer long freedom still clinging to the back of her mind. She came back to Riverdale feeling on top of the world, like she could be and do anything she wanted. But now, with Toni looking at with all that disappointment in her teary brown eyes, Cheryl’s finally crashed back down to reality. 

This isn’t a dream, and this isn’t shared motel rooms and rock concerts and nights spent at the Viper Room. They were back in Riverdale, back to their normal lives, and Cheryl had to start acting like it a bit more. 

“Babe,” Toni takes a deep breath, “I get that you’re pissed at your mom, and that you’re not going to some hoity-toity college, that I could never get into or afford.” 

“If it’s about money—“ Cheryl tries, but she knows the words were the wrong ones to say the minute they leave her lips. 

“Cheryl, just stop and listen to me!” 

Cheryl feels more tears descend down her cheeks, and the air in the room getting just a little harder to breathe. 

“Highsmith college was your legacy,” Toni sighs, “and the serpents were mine. Now they’re not.” 

There it is. 

The confession that’s been sitting on Toni’s tongue ever since they got kicked out, finally out in the open. She tried her best to hold in how much it truly hurt her when they were exiled from her family. Toni even lied to herself for awhile, thinking it wasn’t as bad as it really was, that she didn’t really need the gang to feel loved. But no lie can hold up forever. 

Toni’s angry that she’s not in the serpents anymore. She’s angry that her uncle locked her out for liking girls. She’s angry that she feels like she has no control in what happens in her life anymore. 

And she’s angry that Cheryl doesn’t get it. 

“Toni, I’ll fix this,” Cheryl desperately promises. She can’t stand the pain in her chest, but more than that it’s the pain in Toni’s eyes that’s impossible for her to bare. 

She can fix it. 

She can. 

Cheryl will make it right, she has to, needs to. 

“Save it, Cher.” 

And just like that her already battered heart shatters to pieces. 

“Toni—“ her voice cracks. 

“You’ve already done enough,” Toni’s voice is calm, but Cheryl can see the raging storm swimming in her eyes. 

“Please don’t do this,” Cheryl begs, not even sure what she’s begging for. 

Her chest grows tighter, and she can feel Toni slipping away despite the fact that’s she’s standing two feet away from her. 

Was standing two feet away from. 

Toni starts to walk away without another word, she couldn’t bare being here right now. She just needed some space. Some time to think about this on pour of buried feelings she just dug back up. 

Cheryl, entering panic mode and fearing the worst, reaches out to grab Toni’s hand, which stops the other girl in her tracks. 

“Toni,” she brokenly pleads, “Don’t leave.” 

The word “me” threatens to follow, but Cheryl doesn’t think she’d be able to handle the answer. 

Toni uses her other hand to gently pry Cheryl’s off. 

With teary eyes, and a broken heart, Toni says, “You went too far this time, Cher.” 

And then she leaves, and doesn’t look back. 

Cheryl stuck in place watching her whole world walk away from her. 

Watching by as she just sabotaged her own happiness once again. 

She couldn’t do anything right. 

All she can think, as she slides to the bathroom floor and cries her heart out is, 

_I deserve it._


	5. I deserve it (part 2)

“Tallboy was using the costume to sell drugs, but what, Major Mason was using it to scare his kid?” Jughead asks while shrugging off his jacket and laying it on the couch arm right next to the front door.

Him and Fp just arrived back home after dealing with Major Mason, and making sure Moose and Kevin were okay. It’s been a hectic night, to say the least, and Jughead doesn’t quite understand what the hell just happened, and it didn’t help that Fp’s been acting uncharacteristically quiet and solemn ever since getting out that interrogation room with Moose’s dad.

“We keep taking down gargoyle kings, and they keep popping up again, it’s like playing whack-a-mole,” Fp sighs heavily, falling into his chair and closing his eyes.

“But the true gargoyle king, if there even is a true king, is still at large,” Jughead pushes. He hasn’t been able to let this go since the moment him and Betty encountered the supposed gargoyle king in the woods back at the end of summer. It’s been eating him up inside ever since, and if he didn’t just get to the bottom of this already, he was pretty sure he was going to lose his mind even more than he already had.

Fp groans, feeling particularly too tired for this conversation.

Listening to Major Mason’s dark and twisted tale really did a number on him. He just couldn’t fathom what it would take to drive a man to that level of insanity.

But the answer was right in front of him.

The Sisters.

And to think of all the other kids that shared Major Mason’s fate…it was all just too much.

A knock on their trailer door saves Fp from having to say anything else.

Him and Jughead share a confused look. They weren’t expecting anyone, and it was pretty late at night for visitors.

Jughead goes for the door curiously.

“Hey, be careful,” Fp warns, sitting up on his chair with a sudden attention.

Jughead nods, “I got my knife.”

He places his hand on the doorknob, and then slowly opens the door.

Jughead wasn’t too sure who he was expecting, but the sight of Cheryl Blossom alone on his doorstep in the middle of the night, was definitely not something he thought he’d ever see.

“Cheryl?” He questions, furrowing his brows.

The presence of the girl doesn’t really do much to calm his nerves, as Cheryl’s always been as unpredictable as ever.

“Hey,” she speaks softly, her voice sounding hoarse, like she’s been crying.

“What do you want?” Jughead wonders.

“Can I…can I talk to you?” Cheryl asks unsurely, and it’s so painfully unlike her to not speak with the demanding confidence that Jughead is used to.

This must be serious.

“Come in,” he pushes the door open further and backs up to allow Cheryl Blossom, of all people, into his trailer.

Jughead closes the door behind her once she’s inside, and Fp stands from his chair when he sees her.

“Cheryl,” he acknowledges, trying to hide the surprise from his voice.

“Mr. Jones,” she repeats.

It’s awkward.

Really awkward.

Even at their very best, Cheryl and Jughead have never been friends. They never had the type of relationship where they came to each other’s homes at night with cryptic pleas to talk. This was a first for them.

“I’ll give you two a minute,” Fp says, stepping around the pair, sharing a quick confused look with his son, before he ducks into the bedroom in the back and shuts the door behind him.

Jughead sighs and moves to sit down where is father just was.

Cheryl slowly moves over to the couch as well, looking at it for a little too long before sitting down.

“Relax, we don’t have bed bugs, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” Jughead informs her.

Cheryl rolls her eyes and takes a seat, “I wasn’t,” she bites out.

They’re quiet again.

Cheryl’s trying to work out what exactly she wants to say. When she decided to come here, she didn’t take into account the emotional toll that opening up to Jughead Jones would have on her. But she needs to do this, and she needs it to work. For Toni. Anything for Toni.

“What’s going on, Blossom?” Jughead pries, “This is weird. Even for you.”

Cheryl takes a deep breath, and lifts her head to meet Jughead’s eyes for the first time.

“I came to ask you to let Toni back into the serpents,” she decides to cut to the chase, figuring Jughead would appreciate it more if she just stayed direct and honest with him.

Jughead scoffs and shakes his head.

“Really? You thought you could just wait it out a couple weeks, and then I’d let the two of you back with open arms?”

“Not the two of us,” Cheryl corrects, feeling that familiar sting in the back of her eyes that’s followed her since her and Toni’s fight.

“Only Toni. The serpents are her family, Jughead. Please, don’t take that away from her just because I messed up.”

Jughead watches her carefully, trying to gauge if Cheryl has some sort of ulterior plot here. He wouldn’t put it past her. And quite frankly, he doesn’t trust her.

“She knew what she was doing,” Jughead argues.

“We’ve all made mistakes, Jughead,” the first tear falls, “and I get that mine were too much, but Toni’s been in the serpents since she was fourteen. This is her legacy, _her family_. The only one she had after her uncle decided she wasn’t good enough to be apart of his. Just give her another chance, this gang means everything to her.”

Jughead never thought he’d see the day Cheryl begged him for something. The sight was messing with his mind, and he didn’t know what he should do.

If he let Toni back in the serpents, what kind of example would that set?

“Why are you doing this?” Jughead asks her suspiciously, “Why you, why didn’t Toni come with you, or even ask me herself?”

“She doesn’t know I’m here,” Cheryl admits, “she’s not talking to me at all right now.”

Jughead leans back in his chair. “So what? You coming here is supposed to be some sort of apology to her or something? You thought you could just get me to let her back in, and it would make up for whatever you did this time.”

Cheryl tries to control her tears, but it’s hard after how strong Jughead’s words strike her.

“I know it’s hard for you to see anything in me but a monster, and I know I’ve been terrible to you, and you don’t trust me, and you think everything I do has roots in my own selfishness,” Cheryl begins, her nails digging into her palm as she clenches her fist impossibly tight, “But Toni means more to me than anything or anyone ever has. Even Jason. And yeah, I’ve made a lot of mistakes lately, but I’m asking you this because the girl I love is hurting, and you have the power to stop that. I don’t care if Toni never speaks to me again, I just want her to have her family back. Please Jughead, don’t do it for me, do it for Toni.”

And for whatever reason, Jughead believes her.

As rocky as his past with Cheryl has been, and as, no doubt, catastrophic his future with the girl will be, he wants to help her.

Cheryl was willing to share a moment of being human with him, and he figures he should do the same.

“If I let her back,” he starts, and the sound of Cheryl’s breath of relief immediately fills the trailer, “If I let her back, it’s only her. You can’t join the serpents again, Cheryl. I’m sorry, but I still have to stick somewhat to my word.”

“I don’t want back in, Jughead,” Cheryl tells him, a somber expression taking over her face, “I think I need some time away from gangs and evil board games anyway. Some time to…be normal, or as close to it as I can get.”

“That sounds pretty appealing right about now, actually,” Jughead sighs.

As appealing as the thought is, they both know Riverdale doesn’t offer such a luxury.

“So, she’s back?” Cheryl slowly confirms.

“She’s back,” Jughead agrees, “Do you want to tell her or…?”

“No,” Cheryl quickly shakes her head. “You should probably tell her.”

“Yeah, sure,” Jughead shrugs, as Cheryl stands from the couch.

She did what she came for. Toni has her family again, and it doesn’t erase Cheryl’s actions from these past couple months, but, at least it’s something good. One small good deed in a town determined to offer nothing but the opposite.

“Thank you, Jughead,” Cheryl quietly says, before leaving his trailer for what very well could be the last time.

Jughead stays sitting there even after Cheryl’s been gone for ten minutes.

Tonight, he saw a side of that girl that he’s never seen before, and although incredibly jarring and confusing, it was also…sad. Perhaps he’s misjudged Cheryl more greatly than he’s realized.

And perhaps that’s exactly what she wanted from him.

From everyone.

Because Cheryl put on a mask, and hid everything from everyone, and kept her heart in a cage without access to sunlight, and that could screw with anyone’s handle on emotions.

She’s just a girl who’s been through more trauma and heartbreak than any girl ever should have to be, it didn’t make her a monster.

In fact, it just made her human.


	6. I deserve it (part 3)

It’s been a few days. Since Cheryl and Toni have spoken. 

Cheryl’s avoiding Toni, even if she wasn’t the one to walk out of that bathroom, she’s the one now staying as far away from the other girl as she can, because well, she thinks that’s what Toni wants. She’s done enough damage already by not taking Toni’s feelings into account, so this time, that’s exactly what she plans to do. Toni didn’t want to see her, Cheryl knows that, so she’s staying away, trying to do something right for once. 

All that mattered anyway was that her plan to talk with Jughead worked. Cheryl caught sight of Toni out in the parking lot after school with her serpent jacket being worn proudly over her shoulders, back where it belongs. 

Toni has her family back, and she’s safe and sound in the gang that’s offered her shelter for the past three years. At least Cheryl was able to fix something. She may have destroyed her relationship with Toni, but she fixed this. It was _something_. 

Cheryl’s gotten a number of calls and text messages from Toni all day, but after the fifth call, Cheryl turned her phone off. 

She was done being selfish. 

Toni would be much better off without Cheryl constantly dragging her down, and Cheryl was determined to make sure Toni was only given the best. The best didn’t include Cheryl. 

Things are better like this. 

Even with all the pain her poor, fragile heart is in, she knows she’s doing the right thing. 

Toni told her to get some perspective, and well, she has. 

Enough perspective to realize that people were just better off without Cheryl Blossom in their lives. 

Maybe her mother is right, maybe it really should have been Cheryl instead of Jason who got shot and killed last summer. 

Maybe that was how the story was meant to be written. 

…..

“Hey, Jones!” Toni shouts, immediately spotting Jughead and Betty sitting at a booth in Pop’s the second she walks through the door. 

“What’s up, Toni?” Jughead asks, momentarily moving his gaze from Betty, as Toni comes stomping over to their table. 

“Have you seen my girl come by here? She’s been avoiding me all day and I need to talk to her,” Toni explains, not really paying attention to the couple in front of her as she scans the rest of the diner for a flash of long, red hair. 

“Nope, haven’t seen her since that other night she came over. I don’t know why you’re bugging so hard though, isn’t it nice to have a break from the ice queen every once in awhile?” It’s a poor, _poor_ attempt at a joke, and Betty is kicking Jughead’s shin under the table as Toni crosses her arms and narrows her eyes on the boy. 

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” She asks, voice steely, posture tense. 

“He didn’t mean it like that,” Betty tries to deflect, looking sheepish. Jughead only straightens up and matches Toni’s glare with one of his own. 

“All I’m saying is Cheryl can be a lot to handle. If she’s giving you the cold shoulder maybe you should just take it…I mean, don’t you think you can do better, Toni?” 

“Oh no,” Betty is mumbling to herself as she puts her face down into her hands. Jughead had a serious problem knowing when was the right time to keep his opinions to himself, this, being the perfect example. 

Toni allows her anger to take over as she moves forward and grabs Jughead by the collar of his shirt. 

“Cheryl is the girl of my dreams, and the best thing that’s ever happened to me. So no, I can’t do better, not in a million years. And maybe you’d know that if you got off your damn high horse for two seconds and realize there’s more to people than the surface level bullshit you get stuck up on. Playing God with the serpents is one thing, but you keep your holier than thou attitude the hell away from my girlfriend.” Toni pushes Jughead away from her before angrily exiting the diner and getting as far away from that boy as she could. 

He may be the serpent king, but Toni isn’t sure she’ll be able to follow someone like him anymore. When Jughead kicked her out, it really opened her eyes to the kind of person he is. The kind who would banish her from her own family even after he’s made the same mistakes that he crucified her for in the first place. None of them were innocent, and to pretend that some were more worthy than others, because what, Jughead deemed them to be? That was fucked up no matter how you look at it. 

When Jughead offered her solace with the serpents once again, she thought he’d came to his senses. That he made the wrong decision, and he wanted to make up for it. 

But then he told her it was Cheryl that begged him to give Toni a second chance. That it was Cheryl who came to him with pleas to make things right. Cheryl, who asked for nothing else but to give Toni back her home that had been so cruelly ripped away from her. 

Cheryl, the girl she loves. 

The girl she needs to find. 

Toni had no idea where she was, but she had a few ideas of places she could check, and so, she gets on her bike and goes to do just that. 

…..

“Oh JJ, I wish you were still here. Nothings been the same since you left. Sometimes it feels like you leaving is what started this whole miserable chain reaction of masked vigilantes, and dark, unsolvable mysteries in Riverdale. It’s like the world just couldn’t handle losing someone as precious as you.” Cheryl sits at Jason’s grave, staring at the neat carving of his name in stone through glassy eyes. 

How she missed her dear brother. 

With her parents only focus on her being strictly confined to seeing her as their emotional punching bag, while treating Jason as their golden boy who could do no wrong, Cheryl thinks Jason must have been the only person who truly was better off with her in his life. 

At least she was able to actually provide him with something helpful. Even if that thing was their parent’s abuse. She took the hits, so Jason didn’t have to. 

“I miss you so much,” Cheryl cries, hear tears making a mess of her makeup, not that she cares. 

She thought losing Jason would be the worst pain she’d ever know, and in part it still is, but losing Toni in addition to her beautiful brother, hurt her in ways she didn’t even know was possible. 

Cheryl’s alone, with no one but herself to blame for it. 

And it hurts. 

It feels like her soul is on fire, screaming for salvation as the flames pick her apart piece by piece. 

As dramatic as it may sound, Cheryl’s always felt things with just a little more strength than what was considered normal. Perhaps that’s why her actions were often over the top, because she needed the outside to mimic everything she felt on the inside. 

But she doesn’t know how she’d be able to recreate what she’s feeling now. With the only people who have ever meant anything to her gone, she didn’t think the pain she was left with would ever heal. 

“Cher?” A voice calls out gently, and Cheryl jumps from the unexpected visitor, furiously wiping her tears with her hands as Toni comes closer. 

“Toni? What are you doing here?” Cheryl asks, nervously watching the other girl. 

Toni slowly lowers herself down until she’s sitting on the cold ground of the cemetery, same as Cheryl. She leaves a little space between them, even if her instinct is to scoot closer. 

“I’ve been looking for you,” Toni explains, “You’ve been dodging me all day, and after checking a couple other places, I knew you must have been here.” 

Cheryl nods in understanding, and averts her gaze back to Jason’s grave, finding it way too difficult to look at Toni right now. 

She should have known Toni would find her here. The girl is stubbornly persistent, and more clever than people give her credit for. 

“Why didn’t you answer my calls?” Toni wonders, looking at her girlfriend and trying not to let the sight break her heart. 

Cheryl shrugs, and moves her knees up to her chest. 

“Because I’m done dragging you down with me, Toni. You shouldn’t even be here right now, just go.” 

“What?” Toni says, shock taking over her expression as she tries to process what Cheryl just said. 

“You’re better off without me constantly bringing you into all my messes. You were right okay, I’m too busy being Cheryl, never thinking about how my actions hurt all the people around me. I don’t deserve you, Toni, so just go away.” 

Toni can’t believe what she’s hearing. 

How could Cheryl possibly think she didn’t deserve her? 

How could this beautiful, intelligent, sensational girl think so little of herself? 

Toni gives up on the whole space thing, and crawls over to Cheryl’s side, not stopping until their bodies are pressed together, and Toni has Cheryl’s face cradled in both her hands. 

“Are you out of your mind?” She asks, her voice shaky. 

“Ton—“ 

“I love you.” 

Cheryl whimpers, blinking back her tears. 

“No you don’t.” 

“Don’t you dare try to tell me otherwise. I love you, Cheryl Blossom. And you do deserve me, we deserve each other, because we deserve some sense of happiness in our fucked up lives. I was mad, okay? Mad at the announcement about Moose, and mad about getting kicked out of the serpents, and mad about everything that’s happened to us ever since summer ended, but do you seriously think that meant I wanted to just give up? On us? Babe, you’re the best thing in my life.” 

Cheryl grips the sleeve of Toni’s jacket and pushes herself closer to the girl, taking advantage of their close proximity after so many days apart. 

“I’m sorry, Toni. For everything. For doing what I did to Moose, and for being so careless with the serpents, and for causing chaos at every turn without thinking about how it could affect you. How can you possibly be ok with staying with me after everything I’ve done?” 

“You made a couple mistakes, Cher, but I know you, and I know your heart, and I know how good it is. I mean look, you got me back with the serpents, babe. I can’t thank you enough for doing that… You can’t change what’s in the past, but you don’t have too, all you need to do is keep trying here in the present.” Toni finishes by leaning down and leaving a kiss on Cheryl’s forehead. 

“Do you really mean that, TT? You’re not just saying this because you feel obligated or pitiful?” Cheryl feels the ever present insecurity creep up in the back of her mind, despite Toni’s reassuring words. 

Toni decides to give Cheryl her answer with something other than words. Sliding her hand over to grip the back Cheryl’s neck, Toni pulls her in for a kiss, capturing her lips and tasting the salt from both their tears as she does. 

The next thing Cheryl knows, she’s on Toni’s lap, and her girlfriend is holding her steady as they soak up as much of one another as physically possible. 

Four days since they’ve last spoken, since they’ve last kissed, or felt each other’s touch, or held the other’s hand. It was torture, and they just wanted, so desperately, to be together again. 

“You’re my everything, babe, don’t you get that?” Toni breathes, as her lips part from Cheryl’s for the tiniest of moments. 

“You’re the most important person in my life, TT. Please don’t leave me?” 

“Never,” Toni says it like the mere idea is the most insane thing she’s ever heard, “I could never be that stupid.” 

Cheryl wraps her arms around Toni’s shoulders and hugs her tight. Hugs her like her life depends on it. 

She loves this girl. Loves her with her whole damn heart. Cheryl doesn’t have a single clue what she did to deserve a girl like Toni in her life, to deserve that warm smile, and those pretty eyes, and her extraordinary mind. 

She doesn’t understand why she was given such happiness. But while here in Toni’s arms, where she feels safer than she’s ever been before, she’s starting to think, maybe, just maybe, 

She deserves it after all.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to check out my tumblr @cheryl-in-a-barrel or my twitter @toninabarrel


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